Jonah is 18 Months Old!

My little man is a year and a half old!! Time just flies when you're having fun!! Jonah turned 18 months on Jan. 21st (Mom's/Nana's birthday).

Jonah is picking up new skills everyday and learning so much it is really hard to keep up with it all. I just want to jot down some of the stuff he is into and doing right now for my memory.

Eating:

Wow he is about to eat us out of house and home this past month. We started off January with him sick and hardly eating anything with the stomach bug. But he has more than made up for it since then. He hit a growth spurt and at one point was eating 2 regular oatmeal packets each morning and then still snacking before lunch. He is loving his fruit right now and eats bananas, peaches, pears, grapes and oranges and loves them! He is still not a big fan of eating his veggies so we are still doing a lot of 3rd stage baby foods to get those in him. He loves his animal cookies and fishes too and snacks on them throughout the day. He has had his first candy (suckers) this month and lapped them up. He drinks his milk really good and loves plain water too. I just hope and pray he continues to eat good as he gets older. He is also getting better with using his spoon but still has not mastered that yet.

Sleeping:

We had some rough nights when he was sick earlier this month and when he hit his growth spurt but sleeping is getting back to normal with Jonah sleeping soundly through the night. He has transitioned himself to one nap a day (after lunch time) and he will usually go 2 -2 1/2 hours. He has pushed his bedtime back to going to sleep around 9 which we are not crazy about but we just can't seem to get him to settle down before then. He is still getting enough sleep each day so that is the main thing. He loves to sleep on his back with his arms behind his head or on his belly with his arms and knees tucked under him and his butt up in the air. LOL

Personality:

Jonah still has a big personality at home or at Nana's house. He is going through a really shy stage when we go places and he doesn't want anyone else to talk to him or touch him that he doesn't know. Usually if we stay at one place long enough he will warm up eventually and go right to people. We hope he gets a little more friendly as he gets older because now he kind of fusses when someone wants to talk to him even if one of us is holding him. He will smile and acknowledge people from afar but if they come closer he gets scared. He is still a very happy boy most of the time (unless teething or not feeling well) and easily pleased or consoled. He is really seeming to notice other kids and wanting to interact more than ever before. I also want to note for my memory that at this age Jonah is still not very vocal. He doesn't know many words and he doesn't just babble or even scream or anything. If he wants our attention or wants something he just makes a little noise like "uuhh" and points at what he wants. It is really cute and he doesn't do it loudly. Another thing is that he is still saying "please" by putting his little hands together in a praying motion. I taught him that one night a while ago when he wanted some cheese out of the fridge. He was just fussing and pointing and I didn't want him to be a fusser when he wanted something so I showed him the first thing I could think of for please and it stuck! LOL! He does that motion all the time and even when we're not looking at him and sometimes he will get frustrated if he does it and we don't see him. LOL! He is such a good boy and we just love him to the moon and back!

Playing:

Jonah is very good at playing by himself for extended periods of time. We have a few toys upstairs and a play area for him downstairs. He loves playing in his little kitchen and stirs things in bowls and plays pretend with giving us food to eat. It's amazing how much of an imagination he is already developing. He got lots of toys for Christmas and plays with all of them. He still really loves books the best though....which we love! A lot of times he will wander into his room and get really quiet. We always worry he is into something, but we go check on him and he is just sitting with a pile of books around himself looking through the pages. He also really loves playing with non-toy stuff still. He loves empty boxes and empty plastic bottles the best. He loves to tote them around and pretend he is drinking from the bottles. He also loves for Dada to chase him through the house and jump out and scare him. He is such a playful little guy!

New skills:

-feeding with a spoon better
-puts on his own hat a lot
-building with blocks
-screwing tops on and off pretty well
-CLIMBING STAIRS
-standing up in crib some
-saying animal sounds for horse, chicken, sheep, cow, dog and cat
-can say "hot", "moon", Mama, Dada, Nana, Papaw, Bye Bye, "Hi"
-throwing things (but we discourage throwing toys)
-lots more but that's all I can think of now


We go for his 18 month well visit in a couple of weeks. I will post all his stats then!

The Great Wall

I always knew that once I had a child that I wanted to take lots of pictures of them especially in their first year. They grow and change so much in such a short time! I also knew that if I wanted "frame-worthy" pictures that someone else would have to take them. I did my research and after some friends recommendations, I chose who that person would be to photograph Jonah his first year. Her name is Randi and she is such a wonderful talent and especially to be so close to where we live! She always did such a good job with Jonah and gave us some great incentives for working with her. We have nothing but good things to say about her and her work.

We took Jonah to get his pictures made throughout his whole first year and then this Fall we got our first official family portrait taken. We kept the family one under-wraps (sort-of) until Christmas and gave all our family members pictures for their gifts. Pictures are always the best gifts we have found.

I knew I wanted to a big grouping of pictures on our largest wall in our living room. After some researching online and mainly on Pinterest, I found what I thought would work. Below is the grouping I decided to recreate in our home.

We used the bottom layout. Via http://www.brendaknightphotography.com/.

AND....here are the results!

I got the frames from Hobby Lobby when they ran their open-back frames 50% off. I opted not to do glass since my pictures came mounted to foam board from the lab. I really like how it turned out!!


Just sharing!!

I am linking up for the first time over at Home Stories A2Z! Go check it out!

A Few Resolutions

So it's a new year....2012! I can't believe I'm typing that number....craziness! I am not a big fan of "declaring" new years resolutions but here I go...LOL! Here are some random things I want to focus on over the next year. Some silly, some vain and some insightful I think.

1. Hold my tongue. I feel like I do this pretty well on a daily basis with acquaintances but I want to work on doing it more with my loved ones and close friends. I want to try to think more before I speak to those that I care the most about and not take for granted that they love me "no matter what."

2. Read more and read books that give me something back. I want to read more devotionals, The Bible (of course) and more books that have wholesome story lines or teachable lessons. I know there is a ton of books out there that meet these standards so it should be fun. I am going to start with Beth Moore's "Breaking Free."

3. Work smarter. I have a full-time job and it's a busy and many times stressful one, even though I work from home. I want to be a better user of my time spent working and away from Jonah so I don't have to worry about work when he is at home.

4. Get rid of Mommy-guilt and Mommy-comparison. I just made those words up I think. Anyways I want to do better with not feeling guilty about the choices I (we) make for Jonah that we feel are right and not feel so guilty about various things related to being his Mommy. I know it is the devil just trying to wedge into my life. The same thing goes with comparing myself to other Moms and parents out there. I do this a lot and I know I do it and it bothers me. I am going to try to remind myself that everyone has something they are going through and I have no right to assume what their lives are like. I need to focus on me and my family more!

5. I want to definitely stay at the weight I am now (165) and try to lose more weight. I want to make better choices on what I eat and eat more fruits and veggies. I would say I want to work out more but honestly I have NO time to so I'm not going to even set myself up for defeat. Between working full-time and parenting a 1 1/2 year old the rest of the time, along with being a wife that cooks and cleans her own house, I just don't make it a priority. I truly feel that one day I will but in the mean time I am going to make better choices in what I put IN my body.

6. I want to get back into sewing. I just bought a brand new sewing machine (all my others have been older used ones in the past) and I'm ready to get started. We have good friends that are expecting a girl in the Spring so I will start with making some gifts for her. But I want to really grow my sewing knowledge and ability in the coming year.

7. I want to continue to grow my hair out and try my hardest not to chop it off come July 1st. Michael love my hair long and I do too except for the blow-drying. I want to stick with growing it back out and learn new things to do with it as it grows and just embrace the stick-straightness!

8. I want to try to get one digital scrapbook page (2 page layout) done for at least each month of this year so I can get a book made easily at the end of the year. This is a big one but I know I can do it if I just set my mind to it. I have everything I need to be able to accomplish it.

9. I want to keep the blog more updated on our daily lives and not just the big holidays and events after they pass by. This one will be hard I think.

10. Finally I want to make it a priority for my husband and I to go out alone at least once every 2 months. Even if it's just for a quick lunch together.

What are some of your resolutions?